Paragraph on Buddhist Festival (442 Words)

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Buddhism is one of the world’s major religious traditions that originated in northern India and gradually expanded throughout the Indian subcontinent and much of the vest of Asia.

It traces its origin to the figure of Siddhartha Gautama (ca. 566-486 B.C.), the man who is revered in Buddhist tradition as the Buddha “the Awakened One”.

In Buddhism, three events concerning Buddha’s life-birth, enlightenment and parinirvana are considered the most important festivals. These festivals take place on the full moon day of the lunar month of Vaisakh and in some countries every full moon day is an sacred day and the devotees flock to temples to hear religious sermons and performs pujas.

There are three highest ideals for a followers of Lord Buddha. These are in the form of triple gems or Tri-Ratnas-Buddha, Dharma and Sangha (order of monks). The devotees worship Buddha images in temples or in religious ceremonies in their homes, they recite in the Pali language the prose passages and verses from scriptures praising the triple gems. Sometimes the scriptures are rendered into local languages also. This is the practice especially in the Theravada countries. Infect, a Buddhist who has taken refuge in the Tri-Ratnas. In the Mahayana countries also, the ‘triple gem’ is equally revered, but the Pali language is not used for recitation.

Buddhists offers three articles-flowers, candles and incense for worshipping the image of the Buddha. These represent Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, respec­tively.

All the sacred places associated with the chief events of Buddha’s life ought to be visited by a Buddhist. They are:

1. Lumbini-The birth place, in Nepal.

2. Bodh Gaya-The place of enlightenment.

3. Sarnath-where the Buddha delivered his first sermon.

4. Kusinagar-the place of the Buddha’s mahaparinirvana or great decease.

The pilgrimage to these places has scriptural sanction also. In the Mahaparinibbana-Sutta, the Buddha has recommended to his devotees to visit these places for cultivating detachment and religious feelings.

A common man expresses his devotion and reverence to the ‘Sangha’ by external acts of material support in the form of dana or offerings of food and other daily requisites of monks. One can witness in Buddhist countries, a group of saffron-robed monks in the early morning with their begging-bowls, walking steadily and going silently from house to house and standing for a few minutes at each door to receive alms which the devotee offers them with great happiness and a sense of fulfilment of a meritorious act.

Notable Buddhist festivals are Buddha Purnima, Kaza Festival, Chaitya Puja, worship of the Bodhi tree and pilgrimage to holy places like Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, Kusinagar etc.